On October 30, 2006, the Iranian weekly Sobh-e Sadeq, which is the mouthpiece of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei circulated among the Revolutionary Guards, described the additional channel via which Iran was acting to obtain nuclear technology – uranium enrichment by laser. Following are the main points of the article: 

"One of the ways for separating uranium isotopes (enrichment) is by laser. This method is the most advanced for enriching uranium...

In an October 21, 2003 letter, Iran reported to the International Agency for Atomic Energy that it had agreements from the 1970s concerning enrichment by laser using the AVLIS and EMLIS technique, with foreign organizations from four countries, as follows:

a) In 1975, an agreement was signed with a foreign source for establishing a laboratory for spectroscopic researching of metal and uranium, but in the 1980s, because of a malfunctioning of the device, the facilities were shut down. In the late 1970s, an agreement was signed with another foreign element, for researching the molecular separation of isotopes using an EMLIS laser; in the framework of this agreement, four 5-micron CO lasers with four vacuum chambers were transferred [to Iran]. But during this period, the project was halted for political reasons.

b) In 1991, an agreement was signed with a third [supplier] to establish a laser laboratory, made up of two parts: an LSL laser spectroscopic laboratory, and a CSL laboratory for overall laser separation, in which enrichment was carried out at a rate of one mg [per hour].

c) In 1998, an agreement was signed with a fourth foreign element, for obtaining information on laser enrichment and for supplying the necessary equipment. The IAEA announced, based on a letter sent from Iran, that the output of these facilities at Lashkarabad was about one g of uranium per hour. Accordingly, Iran has a research center and is using lasers under IAEA supervision..."

Source: Sobh-e Sadeq (Iran) March 1, 2007.